Prelim Starts Today

Sylvia's Site
February 27, 2014

http://www.theinquiry.ca/wordpress/

The six-day preliminary hearing of Father Linus Bastien is scheduled to start at 10 am this morning (Thursday, 27 February) in Windsor, Ontario.

The hearing is open to the public. Anyone can attend and sit in court for the entire proceedings. There will as always in Canada be a publication ban on all testimony and evidence – that means that while there may be media in attendance there will be no media coverage of the testimony. There can be coverage of such things as the number of people in attendance, and Father Bastien’s demeanor and dress.

The hearing is a little like a mini trial in which the judge determines if he/she believes there is sufficient evidence to go to trial. The Crown will present evidence to prove that there is, while defence will try to prove that there is not.

Keep the complainants and their families in your prayers. The complainants will probably be called to testify and will be grilled by Bastien’s lawyer, a Patrick Ducharme. I know nothing of Mr. Ducharme but have been told that he is a man of some repute in the Windsor area and a high-profile criminal lawyer.

I hope that some of your a free to sit in on the proceedings, both to support the complainants and to become familiar with the way the system operates.

Please keep the complainants in your prayers.

Does anyone have any news on the outcome of Father Robert Couture‘s court date of yesterday in Windsor?

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As I noted elsewhere, Father John E. Sullivan’s next court date is in May:

06 May 2014: 09:30 am, courtroom #101 “to set a date for trial,” North Bay, Ontario court house (360 Plouffe Street)

It looks as though the revolving door is closed. Dare we hope – at least for the sake of the complainants - that come May a trial date will be set for the not too distant future?

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Regarding Brother Lessard: Does anyone who attended St. Mary’s International School in Japan know more about those annual sex ed/camping trips at Camp KEEP? I have been told that they were an annual event, and that while there were other activities conducted during those five or six days, sex education was a definitive part of the ‘curriculum.’

I have a few questions re the camps:

1. Did these Grade 6 camping trips continue after Brother Lessard’s death in 1980?

2. Does anyone know when Brother Lessard first started taking his Grade 6 students to Camp KEEP?

3. Did camp KEEP run some sort of sex ed program while Brother Lessard and his Grade 6 class were ‘camping’?

4. Does anyone know why Brother Lessard chose camp Keep?

5. Were the boys in other grades ever taken to camp Keep? or, were the camp KEEP trips unique to Brother Lessard and his Sixth Grade classes?

Any and all assistance most welcome :)

Enough for now,

Sylvia